STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It appears as though the season of summer translates into the most perfect time of year to contemplate retirement. Just ask Fran Hogan — we're sure she'll echo our sentiments.

Ms. Hogan is the latest Staten Islander to join the ranks of the leisurely: The long-tenured (25 years) director of community relations at the Staten Island Mental Health Society is wished future success as she vacates her post.

According to Joan Gerstel, the society's director of community education, while serving as liaison between the society and the community, Fran also oversaw the activities of the Mental Health Society's 500-plus volunteers and helped coordinate the agency's School Reading Volunteer Program, while keeping her eye and her pulse on issues pertinent to the agency's mission of assisting children with special needs

As a representative of the society to the community and other social service organizations, Fran, an Advance Woman of Achievement in the Class of 1999, also is a regular on the charitable breakfast/luncheon/dinner circuit, attends meetings from shore to shore and acts as a one-woman Speakers' Bureau for schools, business and fraternal organizations, and other groups throughout the Island and the city, Ms. Gerstel adds.

A native Islander who calls Grymes Hill home, Fran's career with the Mental Health Society dates to 1982, when she joined the agency's Women's Guild as a volunteer.

During her six years as a member of the Guild, she served as president, chaired numerous fundraisers, and received the group's highest honor, the Dorothy M. Kammer Service Award.

Mental Health Society President/CEO Fern A. Zagor lauded Fran as "the heart and soul of the agency, giving true dedication to her work, to our work, and to the children and families whom we all serve. Fran represents us with strength and style, gravity and grace, energy and enthusiasm. Her 25 years really add up to many more, because they have been filled with so many 15-hour days and working weekends. We are fortunate that Fran gave us so many years, and she will be truly missed by all."

Fran attributes her longevity and devotion to the society to "the importance of its mission and its many services that assist children with special needs, to the honest, ethical and compassionate way the organization is run, and to the amazing people I work with."

Fran has also been affiliated with an array of local charitable organizations, including the Staten Island Children's Campaign, the Staten Island Kiwanis Club (where she made history as the first female president, in 2000), the National Organization of Italian American Women, the Staten Island Historical Society, the Staten Island Children's Museum, the Network of Volunteer Administrators, the St. Peter's High School for Boys, the Seamen's Society for Children and Families and the Community Resources for the Developmentally Disabled.

She has been honored with Wagner College's DaVinci Award; the Stella Award of Staten Island Friends for Hospice Care, the Kiwanis Kaiser Award and Diamond Kaiser Award, the "Safe Harbor" Award from the Seamen's Society, the Soroptimist International Women of Distinction Award, the "Above and Beyond the Call" Award from United Way, the Literacy Advocate Award from the Staten Island Reading Association, the Junior Guild of Staten Island's Service Recognition Award, the Women's Achievement Award from the Port Richmond Day Nursery and the Mental Health Society's Anniversary Ball Service Award.

A graduate of St. Peter's Girls High School, Fran earned a bachelor of science degree in education from the former Notre Dame College of Staten Island, and continues to be active in alumnae activities. Her son Peter resides in Florida.

CELEBRATIONS

Today is birthday time for Jack LiGreci, owner of LiGreci's Staaten, West Brighton, Brian Hills, Jim Drury, Diane Kurt, Robert Breazzano and James Allen DeSio.